If true as a saints fan I couldn't be any happier but if I was a Salford fan I'd be questioning the "wisdom" of signing Hohaia, surely there are better players to target than Hohaia even in the lower leagues or super league fringe players?

If true as a saints fan I couldn't be any happier but if I was a Salford fan I'd be questioning the "wisdom" of signing Hohaia, surely there are better players to target than Hohaia even in the lower leagues or super league fringe players?

If he IS going to Salford - and there is nothing anywhere to confirm this - then how successful he will be will depend upon where he is played. If he has now given up the idea of playing at 6 - he really isn't a 6 (unless he has a real organiser beside him and then he may be passable) - and is willing to play at fullback then he will be a very good piece of business for Salford as I think his strength is at fullback and he will go very well there. Saints have not used him appropriately but then again, he wanted to play at 6 and so he possibly dug his own grave to some degree.

I'll be delighted if this turns out to be true. I have nothing against Lance and think he'd make a good fullback for a lot of sides, he's just a terrible fit for us. What would really make me happy is that it would free up a quota space (assuming Perry isn't retained) and presumably a fair chunk of cap space too.

Not a terrific signing on paper, but Salford's main target in 2014 should be mid table solidarity and perhaps a push for 8th spot. In fairness, the signings they've made so far should help them achieve that - no more, no less. Whether a mid-table/8th position finish will match the Dr's ambition is another question. The recruitment so far will only help them attain a level of mediocrity, and I'm not sure that he'll be satisfied with that.

As a Salford fan, whilst not bowled over by this signing I think - as a fullback - we could do much worse than a World Cup/4 Nations winning custodian.

I always thought signing Hohaia as a halfback was a terrible piece of business for Saints.

My only slight concern is that by freeing up a big chunk of salary cap space for Saints we may be leaving the door ajar for a late counter bid for Chase.

That's what im hoping for. Hohaia to Salford and Chase to Saints. Maybe Chase wants to go to a club with a chance of winning Silverwear, and no disrespect to Salford they aren't in the running yet. This could be seen as a suitable arrangement for both teams.

Agreed, Lance has been a terrible signing but he was a knee jerk response by the club to sign a half back when they lost Eastmond to RU. The trouble was you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, he's not a half back, simple as that.

What Salford are doing is buying experience so that they will be a more attractive option for other top line players thinking about joining them for next season. You are never going to get 3 years from Meli or TP, but I guess you have to speculate to accumulate.

Agreed, Lance has been a terrible signing but he was a knee jerk response by the club to sign a half back when they lost Eastmond to RU. The trouble was you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, he's not a half back, .

From what I understand rather than trying to replace Eastmond McManus wanted a star name to take to the new stadium and at the time he was the best they could get.
As for his time at Saints my main problem is there seems to of been a real lack of effort and commitment. Which surely is the least you should expect from players. In the past Saints would sign some fairly average imports but it worked because the senior players at the club made sure everyone put the effort in.

I wont start celebrating until the ink is dry on Hiho's Salford contract, but Meli, TP, Perry and now possibly Hiho leaving - Christmas may have come early at Saints this year !!!

Hiho is without doubt one of the worst overseas signings ever seen in a Saints shirt. Awful defensively whatever position he played with a habit of flying out of the line and then tackling nobody at all. No passing, kicking or organisational skills at all rendering him next to useless when playing in the halves, and even as a full back his positional play was poor and couldn't catch a cold let alone a high kick.

Walsh & Masoe are a massive improvement on what were getting rid of, we just need a stand off and another prop now and we should have a decent side for 2014.

From what I understand rather than trying to replace Eastmond McManus wanted a star name to take to the new stadium and at the time he was the best they could get.
As for his time at Saints my main problem is there seems to of been a real lack of effort and commitment. Which surely is the least you should expect from players. In the past Saints would sign some fairly average imports but it worked because the senior players at the club made sure everyone put the effort in.

That's an interesting point and not one I'd ever really thought about before, I always assumed we bought him in a panic as a replacement for Eastmond, mostly because of the talk of him wanting to play in the halves despite having never really cemented a place in them for the NZ Warriors. I kind of feel he was up against it from the start because it was after he was announced that the Gaskell Lomax combination really clicked and he ended up looking surplus to requirements before he even got here.

I actually think he could do well for Salford, he's certainly got more to offer than we've seen from him. I think the major problem with his time at Saints has been that we needed him to be the player who could create and organise and they're just not attributes that he has. If he could play in a team with two good halves and chime in as and when from either fullback or hooker then he could be effective. Sadly we don't have two good halves because we still need to find a quality standoff, and his salary and (possibly) quota spot are likely needed to help remedy that problem so therefore he has to go.

I warned Saints fans when they signed him. He may have played FB for New Zealand but that was at a time when they had no depth there. Brent Webb's back was gone and Locke hadn't burst on the scene yet. His last couple of years in the NRL he was barely First Grade standard. I sometimes wonder if clubs actually scout Aussie/Kiwis sometimes or just think he's got a recognisable name, lets sign him.